Rogue Darkness by Dianne Duvall

Sean sucked in a breath. Was he saying…?

Stiffening, Nicole turned her head against his chest so she could look up at Seth. “You would be okay with that? With me transforming? With us wanting to spend eternity together?”

“Of course,” Seth said simply.

They stared at him.

Her hold loosened. “Reordon specifically told me to steer clear of intimacy as a Second, that sex was not part of the job. Many, many times.”

Sean nodded. “Me, too. He basically said Keep your hands off her or else.”

Seth shrugged. “Chris’s mother was sexually harassed by an employer, so he tends to be more protective of women who work for the network. And unlike me, he didn’t have prophetic visions of you two falling in love.”

Shock tore through Sean. “You what?” He and Krysta were still new to the Immortal Guardian family. Sean wouldn’t have thought he rated high enough to land in one of the illustrious leader’s visions.

Slipping out of Sean’s embrace, Nicole gaped up at them. “Who did what now?”

Seth laughed. “A prophetic vision showed me the two of you would fall in love.”

Sean exchanged a disbelieving look with Nicole. “When?”

“The night Étienne and Cam brought you and Krysta to David’s place after your rental home was destroyed and I shook your hand for the first time.”

“That long ago!” he nearly shouted.

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” they demanded simultaneously.

Amusement lit the immortal leader’s face. “For the same reason that Sean’s father didn’t. So you wouldn’t question whether getting together was your idea or ours.”

That wouldn’t have been a problem for Sean, but when he looked at Nicole…

She bit her lip as uncertainty furrowed her brow. “I hate to admit it,” she said slowly, “but I could see myself wondering somewhere down the line if you would’ve chosen to be with me if your father or Seth hadn’t told you we were meant to be together.”

The confession spawned neither anger nor resentment. He’d been privy to his father’s visions his entire life and was accustomed to them. He knew they didn’t cause events to happen. They merely foretold them. And his parents and grandparents loved him and had always ensured he knew just how much he meant to them.

Nicole’s hadn’t. Sean was the first person in Nicole’s life who had truly loved her. So he could understand how part of her might’ve wondered if he hadn’t pursued her simply because a vision had told him to. “But now you won’t question it?” he asked.

Smiling, she shook her head. “I won’t.”

He brushed her lips with a kiss. “Then take pity on me and transform as soon as possible. If I weren’t immortal, I swear the last few weeks would’ve aged me forty years.”

She laughed.

Amani stepped into the hallway. “We’re done,” she announced.

Seong-Su followed, carrying the bulky briefcase.

Rafe joined them, looking a little worse for wear. Multiple bullets had hit him. And his wounds weren’t healing as swiftly as Sean’s.

Seth took a minute to heal Rafe, then motioned the tech whizzes forward. “I hear no more mercenaries. Let’s reconvene on the fourth floor and let the network move in so they can start cleaning up this mess.”

Sean surveyed the downed men, bullet-hole-riddled walls, and blood splatter. It was quite a mess. But the network excelled at taking care of such things, particularly when Seth aided them by altering a few memories.

“I’ll teleport Amani and Seong-Su,” Seth said. “You three clear both elevators for the network then take one up and join us.”

Sean nodded. “See you in a few.” Keeping an arm around Nicole’s shoulders, he headed for the elevator.



Seth waited in the immortality lab, as Henderson called the soundproof room doctors had shackled Tessa in.

All was quiet. Not just here, but throughout the building.

Henderson’s massive cleanup crew here in Texas impressed Seth as much as Reordon’s in North Carolina did. All facility employees on the lower floors were unconscious. Most now bore wounds they hadn’t when the battle had ended. Bruises, for the most part. Nonlethal injuries that would explain their lack of consciousness without tranquilizer darts raising questions.

Henderson had gone with the simplest explanation for the violence: a mass shooter, namely Dr. Orson, had loosed his vengeance upon them all. An examination of Orson’s mind had uncovered acts in the man’s past that had eliminated any guilt Seth might’ve otherwise felt over framing him. Dr. Orson now lay dead in the outer lab, the result of what authorities would ultimately deem a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The other primary lab researchers—none of whom had borne the concern and guilt Dr. Baker had over the inhumane treatment of the vampires and the abduction of Tessa—had replaced the mercenaries whom Seth, David, Bastien, and Cliff had slain up here. All had been rewarded for their lack of ethics with nonlethal gunshot wounds and new memories of how events had transpired. Every spec of blood spatter on the fourth floor now bore the doctors’ blood rather than that of the mercenaries killed in the fray or the wounded immortals.

The blood on the second floor had been replaced with that of guards authorities would praise for valiantly attempting to stop the shooter. The memories of all employees would reflect the cover story.